Giuseppe Sermonti

Dr. Giuseppe Sermonti is a was Professor of Genetics at the University of Perugia, he passed away in 2019.[1] He discovered genetic recombination in antibiotic-producing Penicillium and Streptomyces and was Vice President at XIV International Congress of Genetics (Moscow, 1980). Sermonti is Chief Editor of Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum, one of the oldest still-published biology journals in the world.

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Perspectives

Sermonti was often engaged in discussions of the processes and limits of current evolutionary theory, whether it be Neo-Darwinism or Process Structuralism with both a broad range of scientists, philosophers and theists. He was one of the signatories of the Discovery Institute's "A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism", a petition which the intelligent design movement uses to promote intelligent design by attempting to cast doubt on evolution. It is important to note that Sermonti did not deny, nor doubt evolution. He merely that the Neo-Darwinian model was not an adequate or complete form of explanation for evolution, and consequently was deserving of more rigorous critique by those studying evolution.[8][9] Sermonti attended the Kansas evolution hearings with the Discovery Institute in 2005 but no transcript of his testimony exists as the court reporter could not understand what he was saying due to his strong Italian accent.[10] His book Dimenticare Darwin (Forgetting Darwin) was published in 2003 and was translated into English as Why Is a Fly Not a Horse?[11] which was published by the Discovery Institute and edited by Jonathan Wells. In the book, he denies being a creationist, saying that "For the reservations I harbor about Evolutionism, I have been accused of being a Creationist. I am not: if I am allowed, I would only aspire to being a creature". As an evolutioary biologist he most closely falls into the Process Structuralist model.